It can be easy to make mistakes with “born” because it’s actually the passive form of “bear”. If a woman bears a child, the child is born. The past tense is “bore”: “She bore two children.” But we often just say, “She had two children.”

“I just can’t get this program to work on my computer. I’m going to ask my sister to do it. She’s good with computers.”

If something is truly impossible, it may be best to give up and use your energy on a goal that you can actually achieve. However, if you give up whenever something is difficult, you’ll never find out what you can do with a little effort! In the example, the woman gave up on doing it herself, but she didn’t give up on her basic goal. She just decided to use a different strategy.

“It’s a difficult problem, but if we put our heads together I’m sure we can figure it ____.”
Fill in the blank.
A. up
B. down
C. in
D. out

「難しい問題だけど皆で力を合わせればきっと解決法がわかるはずだ。」
努力して難しい問題を解いたりするときに使う動詞。Figureだけでも「考える」として使うことはあります。I figure he must be lying.とすると カウボーイ口調に聞こえてしまうのでフォーマルな場面では避けたい表現です。もう一つの単語をつけることで問題分のような使い方ができます。また句動詞になるので、追加する単語が決まっており、努力して答えを出すという意味のfigure outですので、答えはＤです。Did you figure out the answer to this question?

Classroom Tip
The Hello Song, Goodbye Song and Phonics song are ones we use in class each day. If you have a tablet or computer in your classroom, try letting Kinka and Pinka lead the greeting by having students do the songs with the video. After, everyone can greet each one another with Hello and Goodbye. For the Phonics Song likewise, let kids do the song and dance with Kinka and then do activities and games with you and their classmates.

At Home Tip
Before doing homework, play the Hello Song and greet your child in English. Then, do the Student Book homework. After, play the Phonics Song. Sing and do the gestures with Kinka, before doing the phonics homework. Finally, play the Goodbye song and greet your child saying, “Goodbye.” This ends English time. Making this a routine is a nice way for you and your child to enjoy English together, which all teachers will tell you improves not only yours but especially your child’s English. Have fun!

“Practice makes perfect” is an old saying that encourages people to practice a lot in order to improve. It takes a lot of practice in order to become perfect!

“Practice makes perfect” is by far the most common version, but a few other versions exist. Short phrases like this often speak in absolutes. True perfection is impossible. So some say instead, “practice makes progress.” Others point out that if your practice is based on a mistaken idea, it might not help at all, saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.”

“Wait a second. You said we were going to visit Grandma, but this isn’t the way to her house. We’re going to the doctor, aren’t we? I’ve been shanghaied!”

“Shanghai” as a verb means “kidnap”. It came into use meaning to kidnap someone and force them to serve as a sailor on a ship. This happened a lot in the U.S. in the mid-1800s because there were not enough sailors. They weren’t actually kidnapped by being taken to Shanghai, but they may have been made to help sail ships to Shanghai for trade.

“Maybe” means it’s possible something is true or not true. It can be used when the thing is unlikely: “Maybe I’ll win the lottery.” It can be used when the thing is very likely: “Maybe I’ll stop at the store on the way home.”

You’ve probably seen cherries in the store or on top of a dessert. Here they are growing on a tree. You might be surprised the first time you see a pineapple or a bunch of bananas as they grow, but cherries look just about how you would imagine.